Yokogawa Releases Operations Management Software Package

12.2.2018 22:00 | Business Wire

Del

Yokogawa Electric Corporation (TOKYO:6841) announces the February 14
release of Operations Management, a software package for recording and
managing data on the work performed by plant personnel. Yokogawa has
developed this solution as part of its Operational Excellence
Transformation (a transformation by our customers to achieve operational
excellence) through the expanded offering of consulting and solution
services that lead to the optimization of the supply chain and
operations.

The Operations Management software assists plant operations and
management personnel by facilitating the sharing of information on items
such as unusual events, work progress, and operation workflows. By
digitalizing and standardizing how this data is handled, this software
helps plant personnel carry out their work correctly, safely, and
efficiently, and thereby enhances corporate value. We plan to release a
mobile version of this software in June.

Development Background

As markets change and global competition intensifies, manufacturers are
faced with the challenge of minimizing costs and ensuring high
profitability. At manufacturing sites, it is particularly important to
improve operational efficiency, facility utilization, and productivity
while ensuring safety.

In response to the abovementioned needs, Yokogawa is developing
solutions that utilize digital technologies to optimize and automate
companies’ business processes. These solutions will help to optimize the
supply chain and the operation of plant facilities, manage
organizational risks, and make maximum efficient use of plant assets to
ensure safe, reliable, and profitable operations. These solutions will
also help with facility management.

As the Internet of Things (IoT) and the use of big data and artificial
intelligence (AI) gain momentum, attention is swinging to how the
collection, analysis, and digitization of data can add value by
identifying problems at an early stage, making operations more
efficient, enhancing management processes, optimizing supply chains, and
accelerating decision making. By digitizing and standardizing
information based on accumulated know-how and facilitating the exchange
of information within and between groups of plant personnel, the
Operations Management software can improve work efficiency.

Human factors are often at fault for the emergency shutdowns and other
issues that impact operational efficiency at plants. In many cases, the
issuance of work instructions, the monitoring of progress, and the like
are done verbally or with written documents, and the absence of a
digital record can lead to a number of problems. For example, this can
make it impossible to check work progress in real time, it can take a
long time to collect necessary information, errors can be made when
adding information to shift handover reports, and it can be difficult to
locate and retrieve records on past operations. Safety can also be
compromised by issues such as the failure to report near misses and
incidents and take appropriate countermeasures, and misunderstandings
between field workers and control room operators. In markets all over
the world, there is a growing awareness of the need for operations
management solutions that can enhance efficiency and safety and ensure
business continuity and the retention of knowledge.

The Operations Management software that Yokogawa has developed digitizes
and standardizes a wide variety of information for sharing among plant
operators and managers. This can range from information on anything
unusual noted in plant operations to the status of a task or the
workflow for a specific operation. This software helps to improve
reliability and safety by ensuring that plant personnel have the
information they need to carry out their work correctly, and it also
helps to improve operational efficiency. While supporting safe and
secure operation management, this solution can record event actions and
work carried out based on work instructions, and enables the retrieval
and use of information that represents the knowledge and know-how of
skilled operators.

Product Features

The main features are as follows:

1. Improved efficiency by digitizing work instructions and information
on results of actions by operators in the central control room
Yokogawa
earlier developed a software package that digitizes, manages, and shares
information on plant operations such as work instructions and progress
updates. In addition to incorporating all the functions used to record
operation and work instructions and prepare reports for shift handover,
the Operations Management software features a number of new functions
that help to ensure personnel thoroughly understand all work processes,
reduce operator workload, and improve operational efficiency:
(1)
Incident management: A function that ensures the workflow for the
handling of near misses and incidents is carried out in a unified
manner, from the recording of the incident occurrence to the
implementation of countermeasures and verification of results
(2)
Management of change: A function that ensures the workflow for changing
plant facilities or operation processes is carried out in a unified
manner. Such workflows may involve the performance of risk assessments,
the reporting of changes to relevant personnel, and the actual
implementation of changes to a plant operation.
(3) Permit to work:
A function that digitalizes the workflow for obtaining permission to
perform field work

2. Intuitive user interface (UI)
Based on feedback from customers,
we have worked together with UI experts to design an intuitive UI. The
interface has been optimized so that operators can understand with a
single glance the status of an operation, and quickly find whatever
information they need. With features such as the ability to import
operating instruction checklists created in Excel into the Operations
Management database, Operations Management is easy to implement.

3. Use on mobile devices for improved efficiency in the field
Maintenance
and other tasks are often performed at locations other than the central
control room. To enable work instructions, permissions, and histories to
be viewed easily anywhere at a manufacturing site, in June of this year
Yokogawa plans to release a mobile version of this software, for use on
tablets and other mobile devices. Rather than having to rely on paper
notes or the use of transceivers, workers in the field can use this
software on their mobile devices to stay in touch with operators in the
central control room and quickly and easily view all necessary
information, thereby increasing operational efficiency and helping to
ensure that all required tasks are carried out.

Helping operators and other plant personnel to record operations, manage
operation plans and results, facilitate shift handover, create reports,
and manage near misses and incidents, changes, and permits to work

Our Approach

Yokogawa is helping its customers in every phase of their business
operations by identifying issues, making improvements, and continuously
providing improvement verification services. To better serve our
customers through the provision of solutions that enhance both
efficiency and profitability, we have combined our expertise in system
construction and lifecycle services with the consulting services offered
by KBC Advanced Technologies, a company that Yokogawa acquired in April
2016. The Operations Management software is a solution that allows
customers to continuously verify the improvements that are made to
processes. By leveraging the know-how that Yokogawa and KBC are gaining
in plant operations and consultancy services, we will continue to
strengthen the functions of this software so that further improvements
in plant operations and efficiency can be obtained.

Based on its Synaptic Business Automation concept, Yokogawa is striving
to help its customers achieve an ideal state for their business. By
combining our expertise in operational technology (OT) with our years of
experience in plant management and operations, our knowledge of
industries, processes, automation technology, and solutions, and our
consulting and IT capabilities, we can help our customers achieve a
transformation at all levels of their operations - from management to
manufacturing site operations. Under the corporate brand slogan
“Co-innovating tomorrow®” we create new value with our
customers

Yokogawa's global network of 113 companies spans 60 countries. Founded
in 1915, the US$3.5 billion company engages in cutting-edge research and
innovation. Yokogawa is active in the industrial automation and control
(IA), test and measurement, and aviation and other businesses segments.
The IA segment plays a vital role in a wide range of industries
including oil, chemicals, natural gas, power, iron and steel, pulp and
paper, pharmaceuticals, and food. Targeting this segment, Yokogawa helps
companies maximize their profits by offering a wide range of highly
reliable products and working with the subsidiary KBC Advanced
Technologies to provide premium solutions and services. For more
information about Yokogawa, please visit www.yokogawa.com

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